Though I love and welcome these alternatives, I have two concerning issues:

I actually feel more safe leaving my data with facebook than some random guy who has a pod.

I do not trust my own expertise enough (yet) that my data is completely safe on a self-hosted pod. If my server is hacked, or data "leaks" out, I suppose that is also worse than leaving it with facebook...

Mastodont seems to be the most popular open source social network these days, but its more twitter than facebook though (and built on GNU Social?)...

I actually feel more safe leaving my data with facebook than some random guy who has a pod.

Its true that all posts and profile data is no safer on a Diaspora pod than it is on the Gambas ONE forum. (...hey, I trust you and cogier with my life!)

Unlike Facebook, who are deliberately collecting, analysing & linking your data, I doubt that pod managers have the resources to do the same. And the big difference is that you don't have to provide Diaspora with REAL personal information like your name, phone number, location & so on.

I do not trust my own expertise enough (yet) that my data is completely safe on a self-hosted pod. If my server is hacked, or data "leaks" out, I suppose that is also worse than leaving it with facebook...

Running your own pod would not help, because one day you are going to share with someone on another pod, and your profile data will be cached on their pod! (my profile only includes a name & a photo anyway)

To me, Diaspora is just another teckie playground. I don't know whether I'll stick with it in the longer term, but that applies to most things I pick up.

I'm a dreadful Facebook Friend because I can't find the time to follow anyone (family members often have to tell me to read a particular post or look at someones photos). With Diaspora I can scan my stream quickly to see if there is anything of interest about #linux (quite a lot), #photo (a lot), #gambas (sadly very little) & so on.